No Restrictions Thrust On Kashmiris

Fifty-six days into a lockdown that began on August 5 in Jammu and Kashmir, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta claimed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday that “no restrictions” have been thrust on Kashmiri people and “100% landlines are working”.

At one point when one of the judges on the Bench, Justice B.R. Gavai, ventured to ask Mr. Mehta about the state of mobile phone connectivity in the State, the top law officer indicated that mobile phones were a relatively recent phenomenon in Jammu and Kashmir. “Mobile lines were there in the rest of the country from 1995, but it started in J&K only in 2005… If mobiles start, WhatsApp messages will come from across the border,” Mr. Mehta replied.

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde pointed out that the Supreme Court itself had in a previous order urged the government to restore “all forms of communication”. “All forms of communication does not mean just landlines alone, but Internet too,” Mr. Hegde submitted.

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